Is your credit score lower than it should be? The wrong information on your credit report might be the culprit. When this happens, you have the right to file a credit report dispute. However, almost 50% of all disputes are declined. This usually happens when a dispute is incorrectly worded or documented, or the credit bureaus fail to do a thorough investigation as required by law. The good news is you can take action to improve your credit score. If your credit report has been rejected, here’s what to do next.
Your next steps
The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) requires credit bureaus like TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian to provide fair and accurate credit reporting, as well as ways for consumers to correct inaccurate information on their credit reports.
When you submit a dispute, the credit reporting agency must investigate the items in question within 30 days of receiving your request. Following the investigation, the credit bureau has 5 days to make any changes to your file and notify you of those results.
But what happens if the credit company fails to meaningfully investigate your dispute or doesn’t respond at all?
One option is to continue submitting disputes to correct the errors on your report. However, your credit dispute may be rejected altogether as “frivolous or irrelevant.” To prevent this from happening, you can do additional research, find proof of credit reporting inaccuracies, and submit a new dispute with that information.
If that fails, know that you have rights under federal law to take further action.
The FCRA allows you to amend your credit file by adding a 100-word statement explaining your side of the dispute. However, this might not improve your credit score because most lenders use automated underwriting systems to determine creditworthiness based solely on credit numbers. This can unfairly impact applying for a loan, getting a car or a house, and raise your interest rates.
If you’ve exhausted these avenues and your dispute is still denied, consider filing a lawsuit to hold your credit agency accountable. Under the FCRA, credit reporting agencies that willfully fail to comply with the law can be sued for damages, including attorneys’ fees.
Getting legal help
Has your TransUnion, Equifax, or Experian dispute been denied? If you need help holding your credit reporting agency accountable, there are attorneys for consumers. They specialize in advocating for victims of false credit reporting damage and abuse, wrongful debt collection, credit fraud and more. Click this link for our article about how much a bad credit score can cost you potentially now and over time.